RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 6 Episode 4: Shade: The Rusical!

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 6 Episode 4 doesn’t waste any time getting into the Australian vs American Idol via a musical theater challenge. But first we have a bit of shade being thrown between Gia Gunn and Bianca Del Rio.

The mini-challenge features some guy (Ian Drew) from Us Magazine. Whatever, national recognition. Pout. The game is Female or She-Male with close-ups of body parts. From those close-ups one must determine if that person is female or just pretending to be that way. The guy from Us Magazine is there to provide “color” commentary on each guess. The winners are BenDeLaCreme and Adore Delano.

Once again the queens have to work in teams because this is not a one-queen show. It’s Shade: the Rusical! BenDeLaCreme obviously picks Courtney Act because she’s not dumb. And really it would’ve been unfair to have both Courtney and Adore on the same team. Trinity is selected last again which makes her bitter, but she says it’s no biggie when it clearly is bothering her.

We have a lot of Courtney singing vs Adore singing. This was expected, but still fun. Adore seems to have learned her lesson & her team listens to the musical before assigning roles. She can be taught!

We also get a lot of Gia singing. Darienne Lake compares it to Fran Drescher getting steamrolled by a dying duck. I’d have to agree. Thankfully she’s playing a comedy queen so one might think it’s a choice instead of just the way she sings.

The mainstage dress code shall be Tony awards glamour.

Rehearsal time! Trinity is freaking out over the choreography and getting snotty with team members and the choreographer. Adore is having a confidence moment. April doesn’t seem to be doing well even though she isn’t doing the butch role this time. Rehearse. All of you.

We learn that on American Idol, Adore had been advised to butch it up a bit & not appear so gay. We also learn about Gia’s kabuki background. I’m glad they mentioned that on the show and didn’t leave it up to the audience to learn about that in Gia’s intro bio online. It makes her more interesting.

Of course the performances are pretty good. We start with BenDeLaCreme’s group and everyone, including Trinity makes it through unscathed. Adore and her group do well also.

Elimination is going to be a hard call. The only thing that was off for me was April’s padding and Joslyn’s butchness or lack thereof.

Trinity, Darienne, BenDeLaCreme, Courtney Act, Adore Delano and April Carrion are in the top & bottom of the queens.

Adore is read for not cinching her waist as Miss Michelle Visage commanded her to do last week. Darienne throws some shade at Gia, who isn’t there, for throwing her off. Oh, Darienne, that never makes one look good. Trinity gives a bit of stank face during her critique. Also not an effective strategy with the judges. April Carrion didn’t do the butch role but also didn’t do anything with the big girl role. And Courtney Act gets all praise while she’s in front of the judges, but gets called out for some bum notes when she’s not on the stage. The shade of it all!

The winner is Courtney Act. Adore has improved, but not enough to take it. The bottom two are April Carrion and Trinity K Bonet. Once again the final lip synch for your life is even better than the week before. Both girls are energetic & exciting to watch. This time Trinity K Bonet gets to stay and April is told to sashay away.  It’s too bad. It’s one of those weeks where no one was really stinky, so it’s a shame that someone had to go home.

(By the way, if you want to see your local drag queens live & in-person, check out the calendar at dragofficial.com.)

Who would you have sent home? Who should’ve been in the bottom but wasn’t? Sound off in the comments below!